Faith: Finding it, Keeping it series

Why is the Bible important?

This morning i am going to be doing a series on Faith: Finding it, Keeping. this series comes from a book written by a Preacher out in Hollis Oklahoma, his name is Clifton Harper. The title of this book is Called Faith: Finding it, Keeping. the martial for this series is the Bible of course (God’s word), and the Book by Clifton Harper Faith: Finding it, Keeping it.

for this first lesson on Faith: finding it, keeping it. why is the Bible is important to us as humans, to us as sinners, and to us as Christian’s. there is one thing i would like to keep in mind during this lesson this morning. i want you to remember the word Bible. if you can not remember anything from this lesson just remember the word Bible. The reason why i want you remember the word Bible will be explain by the end of this lesson.

Point One who is the Author of the Bible why should we read the Bible?

So what is the Bible? what is the Bible personally to you? what is the Bible to the world? is the Bible just a book or is it something more? why is the Bible the number one selling book? many people have asked these questions at least once in their life. usually many people do not get a good answer to these questions. Christian’s on the other hand understand that the Bible is inspiration by God. Lets go ahead turn in our Bible to (2nd Tim 3:16)

2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

From this verse alone we can see that all Scripture that comes from the Bible is inspiration by God

we can also see that it is profitable for doctrine, reproof, and for correction.

The Word of God shows us on how to live in righteousness.

now if we look at the history about the Bible it tells us the origin on how man came to be, how sin enter the world, and how we are love by the true author of the book we come to know as God. if you look at the Bible. many claim that it was written by man, the problem with that statement is that if man was the author of the Bible it would never have the same theme. in 1600 year time span 40 men had wrote the word inspire by God. starting with Moses, and ending with John. yet none of these men had known each other because of the time line God had them each write a section that was able to connect with the parts of the Book that will become known as the Bible. many to this day would still question “how is that 40 different men were able to write a book and have the same theme throughout the entire book?” The answer is quite simple these 40 different men who wrote the pages of the Bible were are not the authors of the Bible. Lets go ahead turn in our Bible to 2nd Peter 1:21

2 Peter 1:21 NKJV

21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Here in in 2nd Peter we come to understand that it was not man words but God who spoke to men and told them what to say.

we can also see that the Holy spirit had a part play in this.

Now we come to understand that Man is not the author of the Bible but God is the true author. now as we continue with this we can see that there have been many kinds of different translations of the Bible. like NKJV, ESV, N.A.S, and the NIV. one of the few problems is that many people chose a Bible base off how easy it is to read. to be completely honest here we should chose the Bible that is close to the original text as much as possible do to the reason is that some verses have been change, and that we need to keep to God’s Commandments which are very important and never to be change. lets turn in our Bible to (Eccl 12:13)

Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV

13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.

From Ecclesiastes we come to understand that Solomon was one of the wises kings in the Old Testament, He had realize that everything had already been done, and everything under the Sun will be repeated again by the following generation that is to come after. The whole purpose of man is to Fear God, and keep his commandments for this applies to every person.

Not only are we to Fear God and keep his Commandments we are to not change God’s word to fit our own desires or wills. we are to leave them alone and to follow them. Lets turn in our Bibles to (Deut 4:2)

Deuteronomy 4:2 NKJV

2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

we can not add to his word or take away from his word, because if we do we change the words or change something in the Bible it is no longer God’s word, but the words of man.

Man must understand that in order to please God, we must obey him and keep his Commandments. lets turn in our Bibles for moment and look at (Matt. 7:21)

Matthew 7:21 NKJV

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

As Christians we need to understand that many people usually think that just by believing they are okay with God. the problem is that this is one of the hardest verse in the Bible one Jesus is the one who speaks this, and secondly it clearly states many who claim to be Christian will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he does he will of God, and not his own.

As Christians we all want to go to heaven. the only way to get to have is to listen to God’s word, and obey his commandments. while this is never easy especially for us because we’re all human and we all fall short. If you understand then you understand Rom 3:23 which is the hope for all Christian's who follow God.

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

All Christian have fallen short, all have sin before God. So what does the Bible have to do with this? well The Bible is God’s word, and it tell us how to repent and change our ways in order to come back to God, because God loves us, and if we love him we would keep his commandments and obey him. Lets turn in our Bibles to John 14:15

John 14:15 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

So if we as Christians love God, we would trust his words, trust his commandments, and obey him even after we have messed up. we would begin to look for ways get back to God. how are we going to do that if we have a book full of men thoughts and not what God had plan? or how are we to understand God if his words have been change in order to befit men’s desire then God’s will?